In the linked essay I published this week in DropoutNation, I discuss the path away from accountability our nation’s leaders have taken since 2009.

First, the Obama Administration made the fatal mistake of depleting the force of accountability in NCLB instead of fixing the law’s failings. It did so by trading away accountability for an agreement by states to impose in policy favored inputs.

This gambit didn’t work, for all the reasons the essay shows. NAEP scores were flat from 2009-2015.

Now, the Congress is preparing to pass legislation that basically re-instates policies from the late 1980s, when NAEP scores were dramatically lower than they are today.

The forces of the status quo are pleased with this legislation. It eases the pressure to change and improve. But both conservatives and reformers are rightfully unhappy. The bill preserves billions of dollars in borrowing and spending, but it removes most of the accountability that contributed to some of the best student gains in our nation’s history in the 2000s.

Please read this essay. It is a troubling, but realistic account of where we are and what we must do to right the course.